Message from the 

Head of the Junior School

Inclusivity and a respectful community

Moving to Kinross Wolaroi School this year I feel I have come full circle. My own schooling and early teaching experiences were in coeducational schools before moving into single gender schools, firstly boys and then a girls’ schools. Each time I move I spend time researching what are the fundamental core of how each school is organised, what were the foundations for organising the school along gender lines, what benefits does it bring for the students. There are many arguments for each approach, and this is a good thing. I have always been a strong believer in the need for different types of schools as well as different experiences within schools. Our children have different needs, and a one size fits all approach is long gone from the educational landscape. 

In the last 10 years the debate over single gender schools versus coeducational has been growing with the prediction that of the 7% of single gender school currently in Australia they will be gone by 2035. The challenge with this prediction is by doing so we remove the choice of parents to meet the individual needs of their children. While I have taught in single gender schools and there are approaches that do provide a better experience for students there are always exceptions. Again, a one size does not fit all as there is no single view of what it means to be a boy or a girl. Children all have a diversity of interests, learning approaches and social needs. The important point is we value each child for who they are, and we understand they have different needs, and we honour these differences, this is the art of teaching. 

At KWS we are a coeducational school, we scaffold students, work with them on how to act together, regardless of being a boy or a girl, as this is the real world where we are not segregated based on biology. In a 21st century school we must work to prepare students for a world beyond the school gates, where the traits of tolerance, respect, initiative, service, resilience, and cooperation are as valuable as academic knowledge and skills. As a school our moral purpose is framed around preparing young people for the changing, diverse, uncertain world they are to inherit, and our educational experience must reflect the diversity and reality of such a world. 

Coeducation improves the ways students think, learn, and collaborate; children can develop confidence, empathy, understanding and leadership, among both genders, as they navigate the challenges of social and emotional growth, while encouraging success in one another. Coeducation encourages boys to be more open to expressing emotion, to exhibit humility and softness. Research also suggests boys can temper the emotional intensity often evident in girls’ educational institutions and normalise the intensity of girls’ peer relationships. Girls and boys interact with each other as contemporaries in all aspects of everyday school life. In doing so, they build a sound platform for personal growth, peer connectedness, relationships with others and the development of appropriate value systems. Coeducation in adolescence helps to moderate and balance what might be seen as more gender specific behaviours. It provides a more realistic way of shaping young people to take their places naturally in the wider community of men and women. It helps to break down the misconceptions of each gender and provides an excellent foundation for the development of realistic, meaningful, and lasting relationships in later life. 

Through education, boys and girls, learn not just about curriculum. They spend 13 years learning about themselves, learning who they are as one’s understanding of self is inherently shaped by the relationships formed with those around them and an awareness of how they fit into the fabric of their world.  

As we all know, Kinross Wolaroi is a school that welcomes students from a number of diversities and communities. This cross section of diversity provides for a rich and welcoming environment within our school. As a community we encourage our members to fully support our model of inclusion and welcoming. Our school values include inclusiveness and respect. By this we mean that as a school community we accept and welcome that diversity is an integral part of our lives in Australian society and we honour this acceptance by treating all members of our community in respectful, inclusive and equitable ways.  These are values we strongly role model as part of our School and hope that as part of our school community families respect and support these rights afforded to all.   

In the Junior School this term all classes have engaged in an age-appropriate unit on Gender and Identity. Research shows children become aware of gender at an early age, being well-aware of gender norms and making efforts to fit within gendered expectations by the time they are in kindergarten. As young children learn about gender, they may also begin to enact gender values, beliefs and attitudes.  

They may, for example, insist some games are for boys and others for girls, and actively reject peers from certain games. For this reason, it is important as a school we commence work on building positive gender relationships in these early years through activities which allow children to explore gender identity, challenge stereotypes, and to learn to value and show respect for diversity and difference and learn how to apply these attitudes within respectful gender relationships. (Ref: Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships, Vic Gov, 2018). 

In support of our work on gender and identity this term the Junior School will be participating in Wear it Purple Day on Wednesday 25 August. Wear it Purple Day is about showing young people they have the right to be proud of who they are. It is about creating safe spaces in schools, universities, workplaces, and public spaces to show young people they are seen and supported.  

Wear it Purple shares the same goals of many Australian school systems in providing the foundation for Inclusive Education of which all students can take part. It shares the same goal of ensuring we create a safe, caring school environment in which students are nurtured as they learn while recognising the diversity within the school community and providing programs and support which acknowledge difference to promote harmony. Under the ‘Every Student is Known, Valued and Cared For’ strategic framework, it is paramount we as schools establish and sustain structures to support student individual wellbeing. Wear it Purple Day as a Junior School is a collaborative effort, providing a clear message to students and the community that we accept students for who they are, and believe all students should feel a sense of belonging in our community. 

On Wear it Purple Day - even though we will be remote learning, your child might like to wear a purple wrist band, ribbon, nail polish, clothes. They might like to eat purple food for the day or write with a purple pen. Our library will be featuring a range of books on inclusive education and Junior School teachers will continue to build on the lessons from our Gender and Identity units of work. 

Should you find you have encountered a diversity represented in our School that you do not understand please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss your questions. At KWS we welcome the opportunity to create a space for improving our school community as one which excels at inclusion, dignity, equity, and respect. 

Remote Learning 

What an unusual start to our week it has been! One however that is not completely unfamiliar when as a state we are all now working together to stay at home for the benefit of our nation.  As always, we do not know what the future will bring, and we cannot know how COVID-19 will impact us in days to come. This strange journey can be quite unsettling. Whether we like it or not, we are all a part of what is going to be a very significant moment in history.  

Throughout these tough times, KWS remains open for students who want or need to learn onsite. For the majority of our students and families learning is taking place in the familiar surrounds of the family home. Anticipating this, since the commencement of Term Three, the Junior School staff considered many factors when planning to implement our Remote Learning Policy and move to online learning. 

• What online platforms and resources will be best for teachers and students?
• What will we expect from our students?
• How will our planned learning experiences need to be modified for online delivery?
• How can we support and communicate with parents and students while the learning is online?
• What are some ways we can balance screen time with time to be active and develop fine and gross motor skills away from a screen?
• How will we maintain a strong sense of connection with our students and encourage them to stay connected and build relationships with their peers?
• What is the best way to engage the very youngest KWS students in learning when they are only beginning to develop independence in literacy and digital skills?

Online learning presents challenges and frustrations but also provides wonderful opportunities for both staff and students to learn and apply new skills. I have the great privilege of working with motivated, flexible and knowledgeable staff who have embraced the opportunity to present learning in new ways via a variety of online platforms. Collaboration by staff has aided the transition to, and enhanced the quality of, our online offering. Staff have graciously shared their knowledge, provided unwavering support and inspired professional ingenuity and agility. As the Head of Junior School, I have been privy to the rich and creative learning offering across Pre K to Year 6. Furthermore, the richness of collaboration between the Junior School staff across classroom, Specialist and the learning support areas has been inspiring. Whilst meeting the needs of students who attend school and planning an online offering, Junior School staff have engaged in online chats, developed tutorials for each other and delighted in shared discoveries. This reinforces the fact that we view ourselves as lifelong learners, something we also encourage in the students.  

Each days’ learning during this online learning period has been thoughtfully and skilfully prepared for students to access through Microsoft Teams. Careful consideration has been given to the content of each lesson, the delivery of instructions, the method for students to share their work and the way feedback is provided. Materials and resources have been carefully selected to provide explicit instruction, provoke critical thinking and promote student engagement.  

As teachers, we know the best feedback is timely and responsive, actionable and useful. During this period of online learning, great care has been taken by staff in giving this kind of feedback to students. Via online platforms such as Teams and Seesaw students are receiving live verbal feedback, recorded verbal feedback and written feedback from their teachers, with details about what they have achieved in a task and specific suggestions for improvement or revision.  

I have taken great joy in following the learning discoveries and accomplishments of our students as they have responded to their daily learning tasks by submitting photos, voice recordings and video footage. There have been so many highlights.  

While we cannot wait to see every student back at KWS, we hope we don’t lose all of the wonderful gains and discoveries we have achieved during these tough times.